Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The human being and the computer will soon become inseparable.IPads to Replace Textbooks for California StudentsYear-long trial underway for 400 eighth-gradersBy Albert RomanEpoch Times Staff

The 400 participants are from four school districts throughout California, including Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, and San Francisco. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)LOS ANGELES—With the dawn of iBooks in January 2010, it was only a matter of time until Apple and textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) crossed paths.

HMH has created a full curriculum Algebra App for the iPad, called HMH Fuse, and wants to test its effectiveness.

Last week, HMH along with California Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss, Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser, and Algebra 1 textbook author Edward Burger, Ph.D., met at Washington Middle School in Long Beach to announce the start of a year-long trial involving eighth-grade Algebra 1 students who have swapped their textbooks for customized iPads.

The 400 participants are from four school districts throughout California, including Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, and San Francisco.

Participating teachers have one randomly selected class using the iPads while their other classes continue using the textbook version of the same material.

"Students can receive feedback on practice questions, write and save notes, receive guided instruction, access video lessons, and more with the touch of a finger," according to a recent press release.

"As the digital age reaches our classrooms it will transform education allowing for teaching our students in ways not before imagined, and California is poised to lead the way," said Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss. "This pilot project represents an important step toward embracing a more interactive learning environment that will help our fantastic teachers and school leaders meet the changing needs of California’s students in the 21st-Century economy," said Ms. Reiss in the press release.

Despite the general positivity from the product maker and educators, skeptics wonder if the interactive technology, with all of its features, will be effective or a distraction for teens.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

"The alchemist saw the union of opposites under the symbol of the tree, and it is therefore not surprising that the unconscious of the present-day man, who no longer feels at home in his world and can base his existence neither on the past that is no more nor on the future that is yet to be, should hark back to the symbol of the cosmic tree rooted in this world and growing up to heaven -- the tree that is also man. In the history of symbols this tree is described as the way of life itself, a growing into that which eternally is and does not change; which springs from the union of opposites and, by its eternal presence, also makes that union possible. It seems as if it were only through an experience of symbolic reality that man, vainly seeking his own "existence' and making a philosophy out of it, can find his way back to a world in which he is no longer a stranger."-Carl Jung Aspects of the Feminine

Monday, April 19, 2010

If We As A World Do Something Stupid Like Freak Out And Pump Millions of Tons of Sulfer Dioxide Into the Atmosphere It Will Be the End of Humanity.Global Warming May Kill One or Two Billion People, But It Is the Consequence of Our Actions, If It Is Unavoidable Let It Happen, We Will Ultimately Be a Better World Because of It.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

"In the 1970s a Japanese photographer, Keiki Haginoya, undertook what was to be a lifelong project to compile a photo documentary of children’s play on the streets of Tokyo. He gave up the project in 1996, noting that the spontaneous play and laughter that once filled the city’s streets, alleys and vacant lots had utterly vanished"

From "Playtime Is Over" by David ElkindNew York Times Op-Ed March 26th, 2010

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Five Worst Inventions In HistoryThroughout time, we have always strived for more. More strength, more speed, more technology, and more accomplishment. Sadly, these results often come from a desire to do as much as possible with as little effort as possible. This has led to some inventions that seem cool on the outside, but really do nothing more than sap our collective ability to be productive. Welcome to my list of the five worst inventions in history.

5. Sliced bread · All the convenience of bread, only you don't have to waste those precious seconds slicing it beforehand! Sure it makes sandwich creation only take 60 seconds instead of 70, but is that 10 seconds really relevant?

Not only do you lose the admittedly small amount of exercise that cutting the bread affords, but you now are forced to eat bread of a predefined thickness. If you want thicker bread, it's Texas Toast style or nothing. If you want thinner bread, good luck cutting it.

Normally an invention this small wouldn't make a Top 5 list, but this one is special; it paved the way for a period of human laziness. I can't tell you how much our caveman ancestors were fed up with having to slice their own bread. Thank fucking Christ that problem is over with.

4. Handicap doors · Once again, we take a trip down Laziness Boulevard. Only it's not a boulevard, because we don't like having to manage our way over that middle part. In fact, we don't like walking. It's a Laziness Taxi, really, and handicap doors are just another part of it.

Now we don't even have to pull the door open, we just push a button and it magically opens for us. Why was this invention created? So people with a real inability to open and walk through doors, like people in wheelchairs or on crutches or walkers, would be able to get around like everyone else. Sadly, it's turned in to just another way for the average person to be lazy. I believe my thoughts on this invention can be adequately summed up by what I said to someone two weeks ago who pressed the button and waited for the door to open before walking through it:

Or you could use your hand. Don't be so fucking lazy!I'm not adding that emphasis at the end for fun, either: I spewed those words at him like enraged bile.

3. Escalators · I'll freely admit the elevator is cool. It can take you to the top of a tall building in short order, saving you from tiring yourself out and getting all sweaty from climbing 20 flights of stairs. The escalator, however, is fucking stupid.

Now you don't have to spend seven seconds climbing a flight of stairs any more, you can spend 12 seconds standing in place like a moron! How fucking lazy do you need to be to not want to climb a single flight of stairs? This wasn't even invented for handicapped people: they use the elevator! The escalator was invented because people are too fucking lazy for their own good, and they'd rather have a machine do the work for them.

Now here's the kicker: when an escalator breaks down, it essentially becomes stairs. The people who own the building could let you climb them as such, but what do they do instead? They put up a sign that says Escalator out of service, please use elevator. I cannot express in words how fucking irritated those signs make me.

2. The Internet · What's that, you say? Arguably the most important communication tool in history is the second worst invention? Of course it is! We are so dependant on technology that if the internet were to be shut off tomorrow, society would crumble.

Now, let's think this through: what would happen if the internet was destroyed? Well, all those people wasting their lives playing internet poker, or meticulously increasing their online personas, or watching stupid videos on YouTube would have to find some other way to occupy their days. Let's see, what else could they do... well, being honest for a minute, most would waste their time in front of the television instead of their computer screens. And that brings us to:

1. Television · This has accurately been called the boob tube, and is probably the single largest time-waster on the planet. There is so much lowest-common-denominator drivel on T.V. that it boggles the mind. Why should I give a fuck if twenty people were stupid enough to get marooned on an island on purpose, or if some whore is going to fuck fifteen men at once while claiming to be a "bachelorette?"

The sad truth is that most people waste their entire lives browsing the internet and watching television. What would they do without them? Well, they'd be forced to find ways to entertain themselves.

Holy flying shit, I may be on to something here!

Without the constant deadening stimulation of projected images, we'd be forced to go outside, exercise, be social, maybe read a little, exercise, and find ways to occupy our minds that don't involve planting ourselves in a chair and staring blankly at a screen for hours on end.

"But Chris, without the internet how would you have this website?" I wouldn't. Instead I'd have gone out and found a magazine or periodical, or I'd have started one myself. The message of human stupidity is universal, and it doesn't take the internet or a T.V. show to get my message out there.

Here's a challenge for you: go the next week, from this very moment until next Monday, without using the five things in this list. Buy unsliced bread if you can find it, open doors for yourself, climb the fucking stairs, stay off the internet except as your job or school require, and don't watch T.V. Then come back and try to tell me your life hasn't been enriched in some way from not having to rely on others to provide your entertainment. I guarantee you'll feel better about yourself if you make it.